Begin Again

It's not perfect, but this is a charming and well-acted musical drama, with Mark Ruffalo as a washed-up record company founder and Keira Knightley as a singer at the end of her rope. They come together professionally, in search of a last chance. Written and directed by the creator of "Once," it's quirky and surprising enough to stay ahead of the audience. Rated R. 104 minutes.

- M. LaSalle

Boyhood

Richard Linklater's instant classic, filmed over the course of 12 years, tells the fictional story of a boy growing up in Texas, whose parents (Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, both magnificent) are divorced. It's just life flowing one day to the next and one year into the next, and it's fascinating - 166 minutes that go by in a flash. It's probably the best American movie of the decade, so far. Rated R. 166 minutes.

- M. LaSalle

Chef

One of the best movies so far this year, with writer-director Jon Favreau as a chef going through a crisis. It's really the portrait of an artist, told in a free-flowing style, full of warm moments, good comedy and effectively written scenes. Rated R. 115 minutes.

- M. LaSalle

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Slow as an action film and not serious enough to be taken seriously, this second chapter of the franchise's re-boot doesn't quite satisfy, but the set decoration and visual effects are extraordinary in their rendering of a postapocalyptic San Francisco and Marin County. Rated PG-13. 130 minutes. - M. LaSalle

RATING: (TOO LATE FOR REVIEW)

The Expendables 3

The third film in the action thriller series has the mercenaries in hot pursuit of an arms dealer. Features many cast members from the earlier movies, including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Rated PG-13. 127 minutes.

Finding Fela

Alex Gibney turns his documentary lens on Fela Kuti, the Nigerian musician who created Afrobeat and earned the government's wrath for his revolutionary lyrics. Kuti lived a wild life, establishing a commune, smoking marijuana and practicing polygamy. The film provides lots of eye-opening - even incendiary - information, but never really gets a firm grasp on its bewitching, puzzling central figure. Not rated. 120 minutes. - W. Addiego

A Five Star Life

This is an agreeable-enough Italian film about a hotel critic who is so caught up in her work that her time away from the job warrants only a one- to two-star ranking. Yet this romantic dramedy sometimes wastes its storytelling potential and could use a little room service. Not rated. 85 minutes. In Italian with English subtitles. - D. Lewis

Get On Up

This biopic of the life of James Brown has a lot to recommend it - a winning performance by Chadwick Boseman in the title role, estimable musical sequences and a free-floating narrative that zigzags through the Godfather of Soul's life in imaginative ways. But nothing the movie does can distract from the inevitable realization that Brown was basically artistically irrelevant for the last 30 years of his life and that he made no important emotional connections. It's hard to make drama out of emptiness. Rated PG-13. 138 minutes. - M. LaSalle

The Giver

Another in the increasing trend of post-apocalyptic, dystopian dramas, this latest tells the story of a young man in a drugged, mood-altered culture entrusted with the secrets of human history. In a sense, the movie is about the trade-offs between dull safety and the dangerous quest for fulfillment. It's a satisfying and visually interesting movie. Rated PG-13. 97 minutes. - M. LaSalle

Guardians of the Galaxy

A combination of comedy without wit, action without drama and elaborate visuals that are nothing much to look at, this action movie, based on the Marvel comic books, is the story of four misfits who set out to save the galaxy from a powerful evil entity that wants to wreck just about everything. Not bad, but not good either. Rated PG-13. 121 minutes. - M. LaSalle

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Hiccup and his dragon Toothless explore new lands and do battle with a bloodthirsty, dragon-trapping tyrant. This DreamWorks Animation-produced sequel is darker in tone and more layered than its popular predecessor, but that's definitely a good thing. Like the original "Star Wars" trilogy and "Toy Story" series, the makers of this franchise are allowing the films to grow up alongside loyal young viewers. Directed by "Lilo & Stitch" co-director Dean DeBlois. Rated PG. 102 minutes.

- P. Hartlaub

The Hundred-Foot Journey

The story of an Indian family that relocates to Europe and opens a restaurant in rural France, this is an appealing film about different food cultures, with fine performances by Helen Mirren (as a formidable French restaurateur), the humane and likable Om Puri (as the Indian patriarch) and Manish Dayal, as an ambitious young cook with talent. It's beautifully directed, in a meticulous and unforced way, by Lasse Hallstrom. Rated PG. 122 minutes.

- M. LaSalle

Into the Storm

This movie is all about the tornadoes. The characters are there just to stand around and watch, and occasionally to be swept up in the storm. The appeal here is pretty basic, but it's undeniable. This contains some of the best weather disaster special effects ever seen in a movie. To top this, someone will have to figure out how to re-create 200 mile-per-hour winds in a theater and make spectators fly out of their seats. Rated PG-13. 89 minutes. - M. LaSalle

The Kill Team

The level of apathy is shocking in this documentary account of the alleged participants in the Maywand District murders, a cluster of killings by American soldiers who executed innocent Afghanistan civilians and took photographs of the trophy slayings. Director Dan Krauss keeps an often frustratingly narrow focus on the story, with a certain sympathy for one of the accused soldiers, who claims he initially tried to turn in the perpetrators. But even with this limited view, the interviews with the accused soldiers are gripping. Not rated. 79 minutes. - P. Hartlaub

Kink

Director Christina Voros takes us behind the scenes of the BDSM pornography produced at the San Francisco Armory by Kink.com. The filmmaker and actors seem like regular people ("It's like training for a marathon," one actress says), and they take the work seriously - even artistically. There are extreme hard-core scenes in the film, so be warned, but the documentary, produced by James Franco, has an undeniably irresistible voyeuristic quality. Besides, it keeps you tied up for less than 80 minutes. Not rated. 79 minutes. - G. Allen Johnson

Le Chef

A temperamental three-star chef (Jean Reno) and his overly opinionated apprentice (Michael Youn) join forces to fight a corporate CEO in this delightful French comedy whose ingredients produce just the right amount of light fare. Rated PG-13. 84 minutes. In French with English subtitles.

- L. Hertz

Let's Be Cops

Action comedy about two friends who dress as police officers for a costume party and wind up involved in real-life crime situations. Not reviewed. Rated R. 104 minutes.

Lucy

Like some demented combination of "Taken" and "Tree of Life," this latest from Luc Besson is a full-out action movie, set against a background of international crime, as well as an investigation into the nature of human existence. Scarlett Johansson plays a woman who is forced to become a drug mule and ends up - as a result of drugs seeping into her system - using an enormous portion of her cerebral capacity to become a dangerous genius, as lethal as Liam Neeson ("Taken") and the smartest person in the world, too. Rated R. 90 minutes. - M. LaSalle

Magic in the Moonlight

Slightly better than middling Woody Allen- not only for those who enjoy an annual visit to the Allen universe - this is the story of an arrogant master magician (Colin Firth) who goes to France to uncover an allegedly fake medium (Emma Stone). It's a meditation on spirituality and longing, with strange and distant echoes of "Pygmalion. Rated PG-13. 97 minutes. - M. LaSalle

A Most Wanted Man

Philip Seymour Hoffman may be reason enough to see this adaptation of a John le Carre novel, set in Germany, but this is a very slow-going film, more about the bureaucracy and the boredom of espionage than the thrills or uses of it. Rated R. 121 minutes. - M. LaSalle

Obvious Child

This comedy, centering on an inconvenient pregnancy, is something of a breakthrough in dealing with abortion - skillfully handled by director Gillian Robespierre and acted with considerable charm by Jenny Slate, in her screen breakthrough. Rated R. 83 minutes. - M. LaSalle

Planes: Fire & Rescue

The sequel to "Planes" has star Dusty Crophopper reinventing himself as part of a forest fire suppression team. The film is at its best in the aerial firefighting scenes, which have a storybook feel, while maintaining a disaster movie-style momentum. The dialogue is hit and miss, with too much sincerity and little attempt at nuance in the plot - which includes yet another mentor figure with a mysterious past. Unlike its distant Pixar cousins, this is definitely a better movie for the kids. Rated PG. 83 minutes. - P. Hartlaub

Snowpiercer

This is a rumination on the nature of society disguised as an action film, with Chris Evans as the leader of a lower-class rebellion, on board a high-tech train which contains the only human survivors of the apocalypse. It's an interesting mix of hard-hitting violence and social satire. Rated R. 135 minutes. - M. LaSalle

Step Up: All In

The fifth movie in the "Step Up" dance film series involves stars from the previous outings competing in Las Vegas. Not reviewed. Rated PG-13. 112 minutes.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

It's not just the steroidal-looking title characters, the whole movie is over-inflated - like watching an otherwise tolerable music video stretched out to 101 minutes. The visual effects are solid, especially the computer-generated turtles, who are believable as flesh-and-blood characters. But the narrative is a mess, and the overly long action sequences are easily forgotten. Rated PG-13. 101 minutes. - P. Hartlaub

Venus in Fur

Roman Polanski directs his wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, as a mystery woman who comes to audition for a writer-director (Mathieu Amalric) in this faithful French adaptation of playwright David Ives' entertaining Broadway two-hander. Not rated. 95 minutes. In French with English subtitles. - M. LaSalle

Also Noted

At the art houses

Balboa:

Sun.-Thurs.: "Bohood," "Guardians of the Galaxy." Thurs.: "Anvil! The Story of Anvil." 3630 Balboa St., San Francisco. (415) 221-8184, balboamovies.com.